The reason I ask is that my mother in law had a profit sharing with the company she worked for up until Dec 1997..I t was then transferred to an IRA in the Wellington Fund. She retired in 1995 at age 70 1/2...Unfortunatley . she never took her RMD until this year..( she became blind and either lost or never received paperwork to do so) ...The only RMD she has taken is for this year 1999...So...my question is-- since this was a profit sharing plan initially was she reqired to take distributions from it at 70 1/2? I have spoken to Vanguard and they will help me figure out the distributions, if needed , but only for the years the money was in the Vanguard Fund (1997 +) but not before that. I am aware of the penalties also (50% of RMD) but I am told she can possibly be reimbursed by the IRS with good reason for not taking them ( maybe blindness would qualify?) Thanks for any helpDebbie